They're everywhere

It was a weekend morning.  About 10 a.m.  Paul and I were running our usual errands: grocery store, Michaels for paints, Costco.  This particular morning we had added Lowes to the list.  We hit Costco then headed for Lowes.  Unsuspecting.  Naive.  Not a care in the world.  Then we saw them.

"Paul, Girl Scouts are selling cookies already?"

There is was: the now familiar table, stacked with boxes of cookies and surrounded by cute little girls and their mothers.

I was annoyed.  It's only January.  Plus, I really didn't want to be buying ANY kind of cookies, let alone Girl Scout.  I love Girl Scout cookies. I don't want the temptation in my house.  The other thing that annoys me is the moms.  I don't think it's legal for them to be helping.  It goes against all laws of selling Girl Scout cookies.  That's part of the sales pitch: pint-size sellers.

Well, we were able to resist.  We bravely walked by - going in and coming out - fake smiles and saying nothing.  Well, I told them "good luck."  Then I saw it: the look of disappointment on their tiny faces.  That's the sales catch these days.  How do you PUBLICLY say no to a little girl and then face her MOTHER'S glare???  It's awkward.  And a good sales technique.

I was a competitive cookie seller as a young Girl Scout. I held the record for selling the most boxes in my town.  The good people of Aberdeen, South Dakota, were no match for me. I sold the old fashioned way. Door-to-door. Delivered them the same way. Door-to-door.  Did my mom help me in any way?  You gotta be kidding.  No moms. No dads.  No siblings.  I did EVERYTHING.

It was a great learning experience on so many levels.  Of course there were people who turned me down.  I could care less.  It didn't slow me down a bit.

At the time I was a Girl Scout, I also had a paper route - first girl in Aberdeen to have a paper route.  I delivered to the girls' dorms at the local college.  That was my entire paper route, except on those days I also delivered my brother's route. 

So it was natural for me to go door-to-door in the girls' dorms to sell cookies.  That first year I sold cookies to college students, nobody came close to my sales numbers.  The second year, I had some competition, which I welcomed.  The point is, we worked hard and earned every cent that went to the cause.

You can better understand the conflict I feel passing up Girl Scout cookies.  But I live by my decision I made that morning at Lowes.  We make millions of split decisions - well, dozens - every day, on the spot, and we live with them.

After Lowes, Paul and I hit Michaels and then headed over to Kroger.  Unsuspecting Naive.  Not a care in the world.  Then we saw them.

"Paul! More Girl Scouts!" 

Could I really say no to Girl Scouts selling cookies again?  Twice in one day?  We approach, I make eye contact.  Smiling, I say, "We just were at Lowes and there's Girl Scouts there, too."  I was trying not to lie, but clearly I was intentionally misleading.

One of the moms says to her disappointed daughter, "They already bought some."  I let that be the final word.  It wasn't my proudest moment.

Later that afternoon, sitting in the front room, the dogs alert us to someone at the front door.  I am not kidding.  Girl Scouts.  We bought three boxes: chocolate mint, shortcake and lemon shortcake.

It apparently does NO GOOD to resist.  You can't escape.  These Girl Scouts are everywhere.